Are crazy high restore cost warnings exaggerations?

[gbgastowers]

FROM RL FORUM-----"Nicole is right - as always!!! Look at this one in NZ with FX it is about USD$700. IMHO It would probably cost about 40k to get it back to nice condition. Give or take 30k of course depending on what you want."-----MY -REPLY>What is the cost breakdown on a 40k restore your talking about?? I plan on doing all the work on my basket case myself using help from the internet and a brother that can paint. I plan on rebuilding/cleaning parts and buying used. I would think 40k would be to pay someone else to do everything while buying all new parts from Porsche to get it back in perfect concours condition. Not many go that route. I may be way off base here due to my lack of experience, but 40k to get it in nice shape sounds crazy high and unrealistic for the average restore usually done on these forums IMHO. ------HEY MPDANO. How much have you spent. 40K?

[MPDano]

I probably have a little over 5K total in mine right now. That includes the $850 I bought it for. Here's the thing, I wouldn't have gained all the knowledge I have gained by buying a $5K Car outright. Knowledge is key and I am having a good time learning as I go. It's a project car and I don't have to drive it to work twice a week as I have other cars to drive, but I do.

Like I always say, do what feels right to you.

[928s]

I paid about $30K USD equivalent did most work myself, proper job, otherwise it will be about $15K for engine recondition and at least another $15K for paintwork, so that is somebody else doing the work, the money wont last and what about the rest of the car, the interior, easy $10K there, suspension, brakes wheels etc, at least they will need some mantainance and the wheels a repaint which again is a ***** doing it properly, you can save plenty doing the bodge but not the way I do thing. After the resto, it took 5 years for something to go wrong on my car, so that was pretty good.


The price I quoted are averages, plenty have paid more.

[Maleficio]

Five years is great!

[garylewa]

15k for paintwork is awful steep IMO; If you do all of the prepwork, i.e. stripping, filling, etc. How do you get to 15k?

I stripped mine to bare metal all around, removed all trim and weatherstrips and pulled off both bumpers. A solid spray primer/filler is no more than 200 bucks a gallon and depending on paint brand and quality (PPG, Sikkens, Etc) you can be into all paint material for around 1 grand ( i went with Sikkens top of the line paint). My painter is painting mine along with spray filler priming, blocksanding and three coats each of both paint and clear for 2 grand; this also includes a flex coat additive on the plastic parts. Where do the other 13 g's go? for what? I have seen my painters work and I'm telling you it's top notch.

I agree with the above statement from MPDano regarding the knowledge gained. I did all of the resto work myself (except paint) and feel like I could tackle any car in the future. Maybe a Lotus Esprit next........

BTW - I have between 6-7 g's in my project now, including purchase price and the above paint cost. All of the leather work I did myself; I even changed the back seats to a french seam and swapped out the '83 door cards with the "newer" 2-speaker look door cards.
If I had an extra 40 grand lying around I wouldn't spend it on somebody else doing the work; where is the satisfaction or knowledge gained in that? I know mine inside and out that to me is priceless.

[928s]

By garylewa

for paintwork is awful steep IMO; If you do all of the prepwork, i.e. stripping, filling, etc. How do you get to 15k?

No that is paying someone else to do. That is not what I paid, I paid around $6K and they painted the top coats but that included the buff and all materials, including what I used.

Now remember that is an inside out respray, back to bare metal not including the engine bay done in Glasurit metallic. Still looks good 10 years later. All the other money went on interior, seats etc, new rubbers, roughly 75% of them replaced, all the black exterior strips replaced, new bars front and rear due to distortion. The car when finished was like a new car and drove extremely well.

The paintwork price from a top shop preferably a Porsche authorized shop will cost you at least $15K you just dropping it off, I suppose it depends on where you are in the US because of the employment situation. Believe me I have painted a few 928s and it is one hell of a job. They earn their money.

By garylewa

If I had an extra 40 grand lying around I wouldn't spend it on somebody else doing the work; where is the satisfaction or knowledge gained in that? I know mine inside and out that to me is priceless.

Agreed.

[garylewa]

Ok, that makes alot more sense if someone is doing all of the grunt work; I don't want to know what a shop or dealer would've charged me for everything I have done, if I added up all of the time I spent in my garage with this project and billed myself my wife would've packed my bags for me....

6k is much more reasonable; I had paint quotes that ranged from 1,400.00 to 8,500.00 including a ton of shops that wouldn't even touch it.

I am hoping mine turns out as well as yours did.

[Normy]

I bought a $10,600 928 in 1999, and I now have about $25,000 into it. That means $15,000 of improvements and upgrades, along with the normal maintenance items for 11 years. If you can turn a wrench and have good short-distance vision as I do, you can do your own maintenance for the most part and save a bunch of money. But Susan at Devek told me a few years ago that a typical overhaul of an M28 engine in their shop was around $25,000. A pair of heads destroyed due to a failed timing belt can easily work out to $6000. The long and short is that you can spend endless dollars on these cars. Where do you draw the line? At what point can YOU do the work.

N!

[Danglerb]

Short answer, any material amount of restoration is going past $10k even if you do all the work. Good labor is both hard to find and expensive on a 928, but at best its no more than about 1/3 to 1/2 of the restoration costs. Parts are expensive, used parts are temporarily cheap, 1/3 the price, but maybe less than 1/3 of the life left.

$5k to $10k paint jobs usually fall far short of factory paint. Clear coat often only lasts a year or two before it starts failing around the edges.

[Landseer]

If an owner is anal and need a perfect car, he/she needs to prepare to spend, else move-on.

The 3 reasons I mess with them are the puzzle-like challenge of repairing them, the high intrinsic value- & performance-to-spend ratios.

I won't ever restore one, instead, buy and patch the cars that others realize won't fulfill their dreams. Hopefully at the depths of despair, which sometimes comes after a flurry of additional spending for new parts.

[Alan in AZ]

Everybody can be right - so much depends on your definition of "Restore"

To some restore means getting everything functional and aesthetically acceptable....
to others it means a full on concours restoration - really better than new perfection.

To most it probably starts out with the idea of getting the car looking 'closer' to its original condition... and may include updating some things beyond that (wheels, tires, audio, etc). All are OK definitions - but which one is yours?

Paint - you can probably paint a 928 for $5K but to make it look like factory wil cost closer to $20K with new rubber and dissassembly - I know people who paid more than that ... You can do it yourself but you will never equal a Porsche quality finish at home.

Interior items that need to be replaced are hard to find and still likely to need work on finishes & color matching - few amateurs do this very well... $$

An engine rebuild to perfect condition is a very expensive proposition...

Replacing/refinishing tires/wheels and replacing suspension components - costs mounts fast. Top performance tires >$1000

All the little parts - splash shields, hoses, belts, broken accessories all mount up sometimes hundreds at a time.

Many functionality issues Dash/ECU/ABS/Airbag/PSD/Starter/Alternator etc can be expensive to fix however you go - and to do it yourself may not save any money by the time you buy tools and parts to figure out what is wrong...

Yes it is cheaper if you do the work yourself - but its still expensive...

Alan

[harborman]

Remember, a new 86 in 1986 listed for about $58,000 about $150,000 in today's money. So you are dealing with a car mostly for well off people. Depending on the condition of the car you are starting with, you can put a ton of money in these cars. Personally, I would find the one in the best condition you can find and work from there. It all depends on what you want, a project or a car to enjoy driving. I like doing a little work on mine but I like driving it the most! I started with a really great car, fortunately. There are still some well kept ones around, look long and hard and get one of those is my advise. But if you want a project you will certainly find that in one that has many miles, been abused, not taken care of, etc.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by gbgastowers

FROM RL FORUM-----"Nicole is right - as always!!! Look at this one in NZ with FX it is about USD$700. IMHO It would probably cost about 40k to get it back to nice condition. Give or take 30k of course depending on what you want."-----MY -REPLY>What is the cost breakdown on a 40k restore your talking about?? I plan on doing all the work on my basket case myself using help from the internet and a brother that can paint. I plan on rebuilding/cleaning parts and buying used. I would think 40k would be to pay someone else to do everything while buying all new parts from Porsche to get it back in perfect concours condition. Not many go that route. I may be way off base here due to my lack of experience, but 40k to get it in nice shape sounds crazy high and unrealistic for the average restore usually done on these forums IMHO. ------HEY MPDANO. How much have you spent. 40K?

The key is if you'll be doing the work yourself.

The 928 is not an easy or fun car to work on. It is built like an onion....in layers.

If you're paying a mechanic to fix it for you, you could find yourself broke very quickly. Never, ever buy parts from the dealer. Stick with the big 3 928 suppliers.